1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to vehicle seat recliner mechanisms that are adjustable to permit a seat back to be held at a desired angular orientation relative to a seat base and that also include an easy entry latch that may be actuated to permit the seat back to be folded over the seat base.
2. Background
Vehicle seats may be provided with tilt adjustment mechanisms that allow a seat back to be retained at a comfortable angle of inclination relative to a seat base. Vehicles seats may also have easy entry, or dump, latches that permit a seat back to be released and folded forward over the seat base to permit access to a space behind the seat.
Manual tilt adjustments mechanisms, also referred to a discontinuous tilt adjustment mechanisms, may have a gear plate and a guide plate that are selectively interlocked by a plurality of locking pawls at a selected angular orientation. The pawls may be released and re-engaged to change the angle of the seat back. Various approaches to preventing the pawls from re-engaging the gear plates in predetermined angular orientations are available such as pins that are received in a guide plate, portions of the gear plate that do not have teeth, end stops attached to the gear plate, and the like.
Easy entry latches are provided that may be actuated to permit the seat back to be folded over the seat base. Generally, the easy entry latches and the tilt adjustment mechanisms are separately and independently operated. However, the recliners on opposite sides of the seat may become circumferentially offset relative to each other if the easy entry latch is actuated at the same time that the tilt adjustment mechanism is released. If the recliners are circumferentially offset, the areas that the pawls are prevented from re-engaging may be come misaligned and the free travel or dead zones where the seats are not intended to be positioned may become misaligned.
Applicants have attempted to resolve the above problem and other problems that will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art as summarized below.